An international team of astronomers used ALMA to capture high-resolution images of eight protoplanetary disks in the Sigma Orionis cluster, which is irradiated by intense ultraviolet light from a massive nearby star. To their surprise, they found evidence of gaps and rings in most of the disks—structures commonly associated with the formation of giant planets, like Jupiter.
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2024 Jansky Fellows Awarded
Credit: NRAO/AUI/NSF
As a part of its central mission to nurture and inspire the next generation of radio astronomers, the National Science Foundation’s National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) has selected two outstanding early career professionals for its 2024 Jansky Fellowship.
The Jansky Fellowship encourages early career astronomy and engineering professionals to pursue their personal research interests through the lens of radio astronomy, and with the support of NRAO’s observatories and research and engineering resources. Appointed for two years, with the opportunity to renew for a third year, Jansky Fellows develop broad skill sets and establish themselves as innovative, independent research scientists and engineers, and top leaders in the field by deepening their understanding of radio astronomy while collaborating with NRAO scientific staff and their colleagues in the global astrophysics community.
Adam Dong
Adam Dong earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering in 2015 and a bachelor of science degree in physics in 2017, both from the University of Auckland. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate in astronomy at the University of British Columbia. Adam’s expertise is in characterizing pulsars and Fast Radio Bursts. Using the immense field of view and the large collection area of the Canadian Hydrogen Mapping Experiment (CHIME) telescope, he has led the effort to conduct the largest survey of single pulses from pulsars to date. Adam is also interested in the effects of satellite constellations on current and future-generation radio telescopes. As a Jansky Fellow at Green Bank Observatory in Green Bank, West Virginia, Adam will integrate data from CHIME, the CHIME outriggers, the Green Bank Telescope, and other observatories to explore the new landscape of large fields of view in conjunction with high astrometric precision.
Kyle Massingill
Kyle Massingill earned his undergraduate degree in physics at the University of Arizona, where he worked on the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT). He is currently a Ph.D. candidate in astrophysics at Arizona State University, where he has focused on millimeter-wave filter-bank design, simulation, and testing. Kyle has integrated his filter-banks into novel weather sensors that are being tested on high-altitude balloons. Kyle has also worked on multiple extragalactic astronomy analysis projects, focusing on using ALMA data to survey high redshift galaxies. He is currently researching quasars to explore how feedback could be regulating galaxy evolution. As a Jansky fellow, at NRAO in Socorro, New Mexico, Kyle will use his interdisciplinary experience to contribute to calibration strategies for ngVLA and further his scientific research into quasars.
The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) is a facility of the National Science Foundation, operated under a cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.
This news article was originally published on the NRAO website on April 30, 2024.
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An international team of astronomers used ALMA to capture high-resolution images of eight protoplanetary disks in the Sigma Orionis cluster, which is irradiated by intense ultraviolet light from a massive nearby star. To their surprise, they found evidence of gaps and rings in most of the disks—structures commonly associated with the formation of giant planets, like Jupiter.
Astronomers Discover New Building Blocks for Complex Organic Matter
There should be a lot of carbon in space, but surprisingly, it’s not always easy to find. While it can be observed in many places, it doesn’t add up to the volume astronomers would expect to see. The discovery of a new, complex molecule (1-cyanopyrene), challenges these expectations, about where the building blocks for carbon are found, and how they evolve.
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An international team of astronomers has observed evidence that massive stars can be born from rapidly collapsing clouds of gas and dust, challenging long-held assumptions about star formation.